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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26130271">The Gotham City Problem</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuidditchSeason1977/pseuds/QuidditchSeason1977'>QuidditchSeason1977</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Writer's Workshop - Flash Fiction Edition [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Marinette transferred classes, Tim Drake is Red Robin, post-identity reveal, she doesn't need that kind of negativity in her life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:22:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>995</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26130271</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuidditchSeason1977/pseuds/QuidditchSeason1977</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“We have a problem.”</p><p>Marinette didn’t even look up from her sewing machine as she replied, “And it’s another Tuesday, what’s your point?”</p><p>“My point,” Adrien said as he flopped onto the chaise lounge, “is that Lila convinced Madame Bustier that the only place we could possibly go on our trip this year is Gotham City – although I have literally no clue why she wants to go there so badly.”</p><p>Marinette did look up at this. “That’s not good.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir &amp; Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Writer's Workshop - Flash Fiction Edition [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1866859</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>394</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Gotham City Problem</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for prompt #19 of my Writer's Workshop - Flash Fiction Edition list. That list is 52 prompts that are supposed to be written as quicly as possible (time limit - 2 hours) and be about 500 - 1000 words long.</p><p>I don't own anything!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“We have a problem.”</p><p>Marinette didn’t even look up from her sewing machine as she replied, “And it’s another Tuesday, what’s your point?”</p><p>“My point,” Adrien said as he flopped onto the chaise lounge, “is that Lila convinced Madame Bustier that the <em>only</em> place we could possibly go on our trip this year is Gotham City – although I have literally no clue <em>why</em> she wants to go there so badly.”</p><p>Marinette did look up at this. “That’s not good.”</p><p>Adrien nodded. “I’m aware. Why do you think I’m here? And there’s no way that Father will allow me to go on a trip to <em>Gotham City</em>, so I won’t even be able to run damage control.”</p><p>Marinette grimaced. “I almost regret transferring out of the class just so I could run damage control for this trip. It’ll be an actual miracle if they manage to get through the entire trip without catching some villain’s attention – especially with the stories Lila tells.”</p><p>Marinette and Adrien had worked very hard since they had started training as Guardians (and now that Marinette had the Miracle Box, they worked even harder) to keep the Justice League out of Paris. They knew that there was no way either of them could defeat a trained superhero if one were to become Akumatized – not alone, at least, and they had no other allies since Hawkmoth had compromised all their previous holders. Luckily, it seemed that so far, the Justice League remained ignorant to the situation in Paris, which worked to the benefit of the pair.</p><p>But with that particular class going to Gotham City? There was no way they would keep quiet about Paris’ heroes or villains. If the wrong ears heard anything and brought it to Batman to be investigated… inevitably a member of the League would come to Paris. And if Hawkmoth knew they were in Paris, he would certainly throw everything he could at the hero to try and Akumatize them.</p><p>After a brief discussion, during which nothing was solved, Adrien had to leave for a photoshoot. Both agreed that they could do nothing but wait and hope for the best. Both had a bad feeling about this.</p><p>The day after Bustier’s class returned from Gotham City, Adrien stopped by Marinette’s house again.</p><p>“So,” he began, “the good news is that the entire class survived the trip. The <em>better </em>news is that they managed to avoid being involved in a villain’s scheme until the last day of the trip, so we have some time before anyone shows up in Paris.”</p><p>Marinette frowned, “Is it certain that someone is going to show up?”</p><p>Adrien shrugged. “It could probably go either way,” he admitted. “The way Nino told the story, Lila spent the whole trip bragging – loudly – about how well she knew the Bat family. Two-Face heard about it and held them hostage at a museum. Red Robin, one of Batman’s partners, was the one to rescue them. After all the minions were unconscious or arrested, Alya ran up to Red Robin and demanded to know his opinion on the Hawkmoth situation. Red Robin was confused, of course, and Alya goes “yeah, didn’t Lila tell you about it?” and Red Robin was all “who?” So then Lila starts going on about how of course he wouldn’t admit to knowing her, it would put her in danger-“</p><p>“Which is why, of course, she was bragging about it the whole trip,” Marinette said scathingly.</p><p>“Right? So Red Robin shut down that line of thought fast and I think some of the class might have realized that if she doesn’t know Red Robin, there’s probably other people she’s lying about knowing-“</p><p>“Finally,” muttered Marinette.</p><p>“-and Red Robin started asking about who Hawkmoth was and stuff like that.” Adrien continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “Alya started to explain things to him, but she didn’t get very far before the class had to go back to the hotel. Still, the damage is done.”</p><p>Marinette sighed, burying her face in her hands. “Of course, it was Alya,” she said, her voice muffled through her fingers. Adrien muttered tiredly in agreement.</p><p>The pair of superheroes was vigilant for the next few days, watching for any sign of a member of the Justice League. About a week after the class had returned from Gotham City during an evening patrol, Red Robin appeared in front of them (seemingly out of nowhere).</p><p>“Hello Ladybug, Chat Noir,” he began in French, “I’m Red Robin. I’ve been doing some investigating-“</p><p>He was cut off by Ladybug tackling him to the roof. “Shh! Don’t let anyone know you’re here!”</p><p>Chat Noir dropped down low to the roof as well and nodded. “Yeah, we<em> really</em> don’t want Hawkmoth to Akumatize anyone from the Justice League.”</p><p>Red Robin went slack with surprise. “Wait, you <em>don’t</em> want Justice League assistance?”</p><p>Chat Noir shook his head. “No way – although maybe a video call of some kind could work? Just don’t let Hawkmoth know you’re here.”</p><p>Ladybug nodded. “He’ll try to Akumatize you for sure – Chat and I have really improved but there’s no way we could handle an Akuma with proper training or experience.”</p><p>Red Robin looked surprised. “Don’t you have a hero mentor or team to help with the difficult situations?”</p><p>Chat Noir shook his head. “Not anymore. Hawkmoth got to them.” This was easier than explaining that the guy literally had <em>no memory</em> of the Miraculous, let alone any of the training he’d done with the pair. And Hawkmoth knew the identities of all of their former teammates - some of whom would have been retired anyways.</p><p>Red Robin sighed and muttered to himself. “Dang it, B! Your weird adopting tendencies weren’t supposed to be contagious!”</p><p>“What?” asked Ladybug, confused.</p><p>Red Robin shook his head. “Never mind. Do you have a number I can call or a base we can meet at? I’ve done some investigating and would like to share my findings with you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Seriously, why would any school let their class go to Gotham City? That's literally a lawsuit waiting to happen. My headcannon for this (which I didn't want to put at the beginning because of spoilers) is that Lila is working with Hawkmoth and they realize that Ladybug and Chat Noir are working to keep the Justice League out so that none of the big time heroes get Akumatized. So Lila is supposed to go to Gotham City, attract the Batfam's attention, and make them just aware enough of the Paris situation that they investigate. One of them will inevitably come to Paris and then they just have to be Akumatized and Hawkmoth wins.</p><p>Then, of course, Red Robin meets these two heroes who have literally no support and is internally going "I have to help them."</p></blockquote></div></div>
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